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BATTLE MONUMENT 



HISTORY OF THE PROJECT TO THE DEDI- 
CATION OF THE SITE, 



JTJIsTE ISTii, 1864- 



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SHELDON & CO., PUBLISHERS. 
No. 335 Broadway. 

18G4. 






In Exohi 
VVi«. Hist Soo. 



HISTORY OF THE PROJECT. 



The officers of the army stationed at West Point, N. Y., 
conscious of the propriety of providing some permanent me- 
mento for their fallen comrades, and realizing the necessity of 
initiating some project to ensure this end, effected in October 
last, upon the suggestion of First Lieut. H. C. Hasbrouck, 4th 
U. S. Artillery, and after consultation, an organization, as 
follows : 

An Executive Committee was constituted, consisting of 

Col. A. H. Bowman, U. S. Engineers, President. 

Prof. A. E. Church, U. S. Military Academy, Treasurer. 

First Lieut. Chas. C. Parsons, 4th U. S. Artillery, Secretary. 

H. B. Clitz, Lieut. Col. and Commandant of Cadets. 

W. P. Chambliss, Capt. 5th Cavalry. 

S. V. Benet, Capt. Ordnance Corps. 

H. B. Noble, First Lieut. 8th Infantry. 

M. D. McAlester, Capt. Engineers. 

L. Lorain, Capt. 3d Artillery. 

A. T. Smith, Capt. 8th Infantry. 

W. A. Elderkin, First Lieut. 1st Artillery. 

Capt. Benet being subsequently ordered elsewhere, his place 
was supplied by Capt. T. J. Treadwell, Ordnance Corps, and 
Dr. E. S. Dunster was added, to represent the Medical Corps. 
», The Executive Committee, after procuring from the Hon. 
the Secretary of War permission to erect the proposed monu- 
ment at West Point, sent forth to commanding generals of the 
army and others a circular describing their purpose and so- 
liciting co-operation. The most favorable replies were speed- 
ily received from the following officers : 

Lieut. -Gen. Grant, Maj.-Gens. McClellan, Wool, TJiomas, 
Buell, Hooker, Meade, and Brig, -Gen. Meigs. 



4 BATTLE MONUMENT 

Thus satisfied that they were in some degree warranted in 
acting for the army, the committee published, and through 
favor of the War Department distributed, the following cir- 
cular : 

"West Point, N. Y., Jan. 18, 18C4. 

" Sir : In response to what is believed to be the wish of all 
who have an interest in the subject, the officers now stationed 
at West Point have effected an organization for the purpose of 
erecting at that post a Monument, to be called The Battle 
Monument, upon which shall be inscribed the names of all 
officers of the Regular Army who, during the present war, 
ghall have been killed, or died of wounds received, in the 
field, and which shall also contain a Tablet dedicated to the 
memory of all enlisted men who shall have fallen under like 
circumstances. ^^ 

" It is not deemed necessary that any elaborate argument 
should set forth the propriety of earnest action in behalf of 
this object. It is an admitted fact, that while in other coun- 
tries and other ages, places are assigned in the historic mau- 
soleum of the nation's illustrious dead for those who have 
fallen for the public good, the soldiers of the American Army 
are often permitted to rest among the unknown dead, while 
their names find no place in the annals of the stormy scenes 
in which, perhaps, they were the most exalted actors. 

" Is it not fit, therefore, that at West Point, the great cen- 
tral post around which cluster some of the richest associations 
of the Regular Army — to which would cheerfully resort all 
who wish to pay a tribute to the gallant dead — under the 
shadow of the Academy which at last receives her sons and all 
who fight, or fall beside them, should be erected a monument 
which shall supply the want that now exists ? 

" To the dead, it would offer the grateful homage of fraternal 
hearts — to the living, still another inspiration to heroic virtues 
and sublime self-devotion. 

" The plan of action that is proposed has been carefully 
sought out, and it is trusted that, with a favorable response, a 
sufficient sum may be raised to make the Battle Monument, 
n design and durability, entirely worthy of its purpose. 



AT WEST POINT. O 

" It seems unnecessary that those who have undertaken to 
initiate this project should disavow any undue assumption in 
regard to it, since they earnestly ask from their brother offi- 
cers in the field, or elsewhere, such instructions or suggestions 
as may tend to forward the purpose that is held in view. 

" For the purpose of indicating a standard of subscription, 
the following rates are proposed, every one, however, will feel 
at liberty to oifer a greater or less sum, as circumstances 
permit : 



Maj.-Gen P7 00 

Brig.-Geu 18 00 

Colonel 13 00 

Lieut.-Col 11 00 



Major ^10 00 

Captain 8 00 

Lieut 7 00 

Enlisted Men each 1 00 



(Approximating to 6 per cent, of monthly pay, for one month.) 
Besides your personal subscription, your co-operation with 
your associates in the field is also solicited, since this circular 
may not otherwise reach them on account of the difficulty of 
obtaining correct addresses. 

Should subscriptions be forwarded in aggregate, the officer 
so forwarding will please enclose the names of the several sub- 
scribers. Subscriptions may be remitted to the Treasurer, 

(Signed, &c.) Prof A. E. Church, West Point, N. Y. 

The response to this appeal was general, prompt and earnest. 
Among those of our general officers who gave earliest tribute 
to the gallant who had fallen under their command, or been 
of their number, were Major-Gens. Sedgwick, Sykes, Sherman, 
Augur, Pope, Wright, Curtiss, Doubleday, Heintzleman, 
Pleasonton, Peck, Hitchcock, Gibbon, Reynolds, Franklin, 
Howard, McCook, Granger, Brookes, Keyes, Foster, Gill- 
more, Butterfield, French, Butler, McDowell, and Brig.-Gens. 
Wright, Paul, Hawkins, Delafield, Wessells, Barry, De Rus- 
sey, Sherman, Ramsay, Hunt, Cooke, Pitcher, Hays, Ingalls, 
Grainger, Newton, Cullum, Wheaton, Ames, Kilpatrick, 
Totten, Williams, and Ricketts, and to these may be added 
the hearty tributes from the field, staff and line officers 



6 BATTLE MONUMENT AT WEST POINT. 

tlirougliout every division of the army, and the no less welcome 
contributions of many enlisted men. 

A circular, inviting designs for the Monument, was pre- 
pared by the committee ; and to secure competition, a pre- 
mium of ^250 was offered for that which shall finally be ac- 
cepted. 

It seemed proper, as the project progressed and attained the 
promise of complete success, that a site should be chosen and 
set apart to be ever after recognized as the honored shrine of 
our noble dead. 

The committee, therefore, after selecting Trophy Point, 
upon the northern brow of the plain, as such site, designated 
the 15th of June, 1864, as a day for its dedication. Major- 
Gen, McClellan was requested to deliver the oration, Brig.- 
Gen. Anderson officiated as chief marshal, and Rev. Drs. 
French and Sprole as chaplains. 

The following is the record of proceedings for that day. 
Its interest was heightened by the presence of the shattered 
but still steady remnants of the 3d, 6th, 7th, and 12th Regi- 
ments U. S. Infantry, the bands of these and of the 5th Artil- 
lery, and the permanent party of Fort Columbus, N. Y. Har- 
bor, preceded in procession by the U. S. corps of Cadets and 
the Military Academy band. 

It was also distinguished throughout by that deep solemnity 
of feeling which was eminently due to the occasion. 



"West Point, June 15, 1864, 

PKOG-RAMME OF CEREMONIES. 



PRO CESSION. 
Assistant-Marshal. — Capt. Wilkins, 3d Infantry. 

1. Military Academy Band. 

2. Battalion of Cadets. 

Assistai-d-Marshal. — Capt. Smith, 8tli Infantry. 

3. Detachments of Troops, Stationed at and Visiting the Post. 

4. Carriage containing the President of the Executive Committee, 

the Chief Marshal, and State Executives. 

Assistant-Marshal — Lieut. Hamilton, 2d Artillery. 

5. Senior Member of the Committee, Orator, and Chaplains. 

6. The Executive Committee. 

7. Military and Academic Staff, Board of Visitors, and Invited 

Guests. 

A ' u X Tir -LI \ Capt. Davies, 16th Infantry. 
Assistant-Marshals, i ^ ^ ^ ^ . 

i Capt. Baklow, Engmeers. 

PROCEEDINGS. 

1. Prayer Rev. Dr. French 

2. Music — Hail Columbia Military Academy Band 

3. Oration Maj. Gen. McCleUan 

4. Music — Star-Spangled Banner & Yankee-Doodle. . . M. A. Band 

5. Benediction Eev. Dr. Sprole 

6. Dirge Military Academy Band 



PRAYERS. 



1. 

FOE THE COUNTEY. 

Almighty God, fountain of order, source of all 
law, in heaven and in earth, who hast ordained that 
men shall exist in organized communities, who, in 
the days of our fathers, didst bring forth, in the 
hour of darkness, the starry order of American insti- 
tutions, for which we praise and bless Thee, we 
commend our country, now and ever, with all its 
interests, to Thy protecting care. May Thy fatherly 
hand ever be extended for perpetual benedictions, 
over this land, kept by Thee, through ages for us ; 
over its people, trained by Thee so long for a sub- 
lime vocation ; its Constitution, fruit of Thy teach- 
ings in history ; its Union, blending human diversi- 
ties into one chorus, acceptable to Thee, the lover of 
concord ; and its laws, uniting, after the model of 
Thine, mercy with justice, and liberty with order. 
From thine own deeps of purity and love, breathe 
into the whole American people, by Thy spirit, an(i 
through all subduing ckarity, that sacred affection, 
love to our country. Kemove for ever from them, 
the spirit of sedition, conspiracy, rebellion, and give 
them steadfast loyalty, and unswerving allegiance. 

1* 



10 BATTLE MONUMENT 

Specially do we implore Thee thus to turn the hearts 
of those who are now in arms against authority. In 
the contest to which we have been summoned for 
defending the precious trusts handed on from our 
fathers, wilt Thou send us now prosperity, and grant 
us victory. 0, let not the impassioned yearnings of 
a great people for unity, for nationality, for benef- 
icent order, for a lasting tranquillity, be in vain. 
May their lavish sacrifices, their patriotic efforts, 
their patient endurances, their silent tears falling in 
so many saddened homesteads, not be fruitless, but 
be regarded by Thee, through thy Son, for benedic- 
tions, and by distant posterities, blessed through 
them, for abundant honor. So may we be through 
coming time, one people, fearing Thee and working 
righteousness, glorifying Thy name, and elevating 
Thy whole human family. All which we ask through 
Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. 



FOE THE PEESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND 
ALL OTHERS IN AUTHORITY. 

0, everlasting Grod, by whose eternal providence 
all things and all men have their stations and their 
works, wherein they may serve Thee, and do good 
to Thy creatures, we ask for Thy blessing on the 
President of the United States, and all others in 
authority. Called by Thee to great duties, may 
they find in Thee strength and wisdom for all. 
Bestow upon them all good gifts for government ; 
inspire them with wisest counsels and heroic reso- 



AT WEST POINT 11 

lutions. Console them in their difficult tasks with 
the consciousness, of duty done, of intentions sin- 
cerely placed on the public welfare, justice, and 
honor ; of the sympathy of upright men ; of the 
appreciation of other ages ; and of Thine own merci- 
ful yet forgiving approval. In this life, may Thy 
providence guard them. In mortal scenes may Thy 
spirit so guide them, that they may hereafter serve 
and glorify. Thee in a better country that is an 
heavenly ; through Him who taught the rules and 
procured the spirit for all human duties, our 
teacher, our model, our restorer, Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 

s. 

FOR THE ARMY AND NAVY AND THEIR SCHOOLS. 

Lord God of hosts, who hast • determined the 
'union of power with law through all thy works, 
and for all communities of men, be pleased to re- 
ceive into thy almighty and most gracious protec- 
tion, the Army and the Navy of the United States. 
Fill the whole public force with the spirit of patriot- 
ism and self-sacrifice, with an inspiring conviction 
of the glory of the cause for which it is now called 
to dare and to endure. May its persons be defended 
by Thee in danger, and encouraged to all deeds of 
heroism by the affection and honor of grateful 
countiymen. And may both its schools be the nur- 
series of pure, accomplished, and brave men, and be 
continually sending forth on land and sea those who 
may render, in peace and war, good and faithful ser- 



12 BATTLE MONUMENT 

vice to the public. So may the people of our land, 
under the shelter of good laws, in peace and quiet- 
ness, serve thee our God, and lead lives of all godli- 
ness and honesty, to the glory of Thy name, and the 
promotion of human welfare, through Him who 
gave the example of self-sacrifice, dying for us that 
we might live with Thee, thy Son, our Saviour. 
Amen. 

FOE A BLESSING ON THE OCCASION. 

God of the spirits of all flesh, calling the gen- 
erations from the beginning, and, since the first 
transgression, bidding dust return to dust again^ 
may this spot, consecrated now to the memory 
of heroes, be hallowed also to the benefit of the 
living. May those brought here for their last 
repose, be the temples of thy Holy Spirit, and 
leave spotless records of lives made glorious by 
duty conscientiously done, so that the wayfarer, 
lingering and musing here, may find his soul en- 
kindled to ennobling emulations. And may this 
whole assembly look this day from the grave to the 
life immortal. Here, in a temple not made with 
hands, where the mountains rise, the river flows, the 
valley slumbers, all telling of Thee and of Thy un- 
speakable perfection, may thoughts arise within us 
answering to the majesty of Thy glorious works. 
Here may we consecrate ourselves anew to the love 
of Thee, the love of man, the love of Thy will ; to 
the doing of justice, to the loving of mercy, and to 



AT WEST POIKT 13 

walking humbly with Thee our God : that so, when 
we too shall lie down in the dust, we may be Thy 
children, justified, sanctified, and prepared to be 
glorified, all through Him who has opened the way 
to Thee, and who, to inbreathe these great affections, 
has taught us when we pray to say 

OuK Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy 
name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on 
earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily 
bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive 
those who trespass against us. And lead us not into 
temptation : But deliver us from evil. For Thine • 
is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for 
ever and ever. Amen. 

After the prayer. Prof French said : 

" I am requested on behalf of the officers of the 
army, and of the local authorities and residents, to 
express their sentiments and wishes, and most 
earnestly to ask that these may be respected. To 
all of us, the day is a solemn one ; to military 
feelings ever confronted with death, the occasion is 
the same as though cherished comrades were now to 
be laid in the grave. They ask therefore, that this 
hour and this day may be invested with the decorum 
attached to funeral solemnities— that no demonstra- 
tion of any kind be made on the ground or after- 
ward, but that all may enter into the spirit and mo- 
tive of the solemn occasion which calls us here in 
reverence, before Almighty God, to set apart a por- 



14 BATTLE MONUMENT AT WEST POINT. 

tion of his footstool for the remains of those who 
shall fall in this war in the defence of the Constitu- 
tion, the Union, the welfare, and the national honor 
of the United States. 

Gen. Anderson's introduction of the orator : 

Fellow-citizens, memhers of the corps of cadets, 
and brother soldiers, I have the pleasure of going 
through the form of introducing to you one who is 
better known to you than I who introduce him. 
The orator of the day, Major G-eneral George B. 
McClellan. 



o lEU^iPi o ]sr 



BY 



GENERAL GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN. 



All nations have days sacred to the remembrance 
of joy and of grief They have thanksgivings for 
success, fasting and prayers in the hour of humilia- 
tion and defeat, triumphs and paeans to greet the liv- 
ing and laurel-crowned victor. They have obsequies 
and eulogies for the warrior slain on the field of bat- 
tle. Such is the duty we are to perform to-day. 
The poetry, the histories, the orations of antiquity, 
all resound with the clang of arms ; they dwell rath- 
er upon rough deeds of war, than the gentle arts of 
peace. They have preserved to us the names of he- 
roes, and the memory of their deeds, even to this dis- 
tant day. Our own Old Testament teems with the 
narrations of the brave actions and heroic deaths of 
Jewish patriots, while the New Testament of our 
meek and suffering Saviour, often selects the soldier 
and his weapons, to typify and illustrate religious 
heroism and duty. These stories of the actions of 
the dead, have frequently survived in the lapse of 
ages, the names of those whose fall was thus com- 
memorated centuries ago. But, although we know 



16 BA TTLE 3I0NUMEN T 

not now the names of all the brave men who fought 
and fell upon the plain of Marathon, in the pass of 
Thermopylae, and on the hills of Palestine, we have 
not lost the memory of their examples. As long as 
the warm blood courses the veins of man, as long as 
the human heart beats high and quick at the recital 
of brave deeds and patriotic sacrifices, so long will 
the lesson still incite generous men to emulate the 
heroism of the past. 

Among the Greeks, it was the custom that the 
fathers of the most valiant of the slain should pro- 
nounce the eulogies of the dead. Sometimes it de- 
volved upon their great statesmen and orators to 
perform this mournful duty. Would that a new 
Demosthenes, or a second Pericles could arise and 
take my place to-day, for he would find a theme 
worthy of his most brilliant powers, of his most 
touching eloquence. I stand here now, not as an 
orator, but as a whilom commander, and in the place 
of the fathers of the most valiant dead. As their 
comrade, too, on many a hard-fought field against 
domestic and foreign foe — in early youth and ma- 
ture manhood — moved by all the love that David 
felt when he poured forth his lamentations for the 
mighty father and son who fell on Mount Gilboa. 
God knows that David's love for Jonathan was no 
more deep than mine for the tried friends of many 
long and eventful years, whose names are to be re- 
corded upon the structure that is to rise upon this 
spot. Would that his more than mortal eloquence 
could grace my lips and do justice to the theme ! 



AT WEST POINT. 17 

We have met to-day, my comrades, to do honor 
to our own dead ; brothers united to us by the clo- 
sest and dearest ties, who have freely given their 
lives for their country in this war — so just and right- 
eous, so long as its purptjse is to crush rebellion, and 
to save our nation from the infinite evils of dismem- 
berment. Such an occasion as this should call forth 
the deepest and noblest emotions of our nature — 
pride, sorrow, and prayer ; pride that our country 
has possessed such sons ; sorrow that she has lost 
them ; prayer that she may have others like them ; 
that we and our successors may adorn her annals as 
they have done, and that when our parting hour ar- 
rives, whenever and however it may be, our souls 
may be prepared for the great change. 

We have assembled to consecrate a' cenotaph, 
which shall remind our children's children, in the 
distant future, of their fathers' struggles in the days 
of the great rebellion. This monument is to perpet- 
uate the memory of a portion only of those who have 
fallen for the nation in this unhappy war — it is ded- 
icated to the officers and soldiers of the regular ar- 
my. Yet this is done in no class or exclusive spirit, 
and in the act we remember with reverence and love, 
OUT comrades of the volunteers, who have so glori- 
ously fought and fallen by our sides. Each state 
will, no doubt, commemorate in some fitting way 
the services of its sons, who abandoned the avoca- 
tions of peace and shed their blood in the ranks of 
the volunteers. How richly they have earned a na- 
tion's love, a nation's gratitude, with what heroism 



18 BATTLE MONUMENT 

they have confronted death, have wrested victory 
from a stuhhorn foe, and have illustrated defeat, it 
well becomes me to say, for it has been my lot to 
command them on many a sanguinary field. I know 
that I but echo the feeling of the regulars, when I 
award the high credit they deserve to their brave 
brethren of the volunteers. 

But we of the regular army have no states to look 
to for the honors due our dead. We belong to the 
whole country, and can neither expect nor desire the 
general government to make, a perhaps invidious dis- 
tinction in our favor. We are few in number, a 
small band of comrades, united by peculiar and very 
binding ties ; for with many of us our friendships 
were commenced in boyhood, when we rested here in 
the shadow of the granite hills which look down up- 
on us where we stand ; with others the ties of broth- 
erhood were formed in more mature years, while 
fighting among the rugged mountains and the fertile 
valleys of Mexico — within hearing of the eternal 
waves of the Pacific, or in the lonely grandeur of the 
great plains of the far West. With all, our love_and 
confidence have been cemented by common dangers 
and sufferings, on the toilsome march, in the dreary 
bivouac, and amid the clash of arms, and in the 
presence of death on scores of battle-fields. West 
Point, with her large heart, adopts us all — gradu- 
ates and those appointed from civil life, officers and 
privates. In her eyes we are all her children, jeal- 
ous of her fame, and eager to sustain her world-wide 
reputation. Generals and private soldiers, men who 



AT WEST POINT. 19 

have cheerfully offered our all for our dear country, 
we stand here before this shrine, ever hereafter sa- 
cred to our dead, equals and brothers in the presence 
of the common death which awaits us all, perhaps 
on the same field and at the same hour. Such are 
the ties which unite us, the most endearing which 
exist among men ; such the relations which bind us 
together, the closest of the sacred brotherhood of 
arms. 

It has therefore seemed, and it is fitting, that we 
should erect upon this spot, so sacred to us all, an 
enduring monument to our dear brothers who have 
preceded us on the path of peril and of honor, which 
it is the destiny of many of us to tread. 

What is this regular army to which we belong ? 

Who were the men whose death merits such hon- 
ors from the living ? 

What is the cause for which they have laid down 
their lives ? 

Our regular or permanent army is the nucleus 
which, in time of peace, preserves the military tra- 
ditions of the nation, as well as the organization, 
science and instruction indispensable to modern arm- 
ies. It may be regarded as co-eval with the nation. 
It derives its origin from the old continental and 
state lines of the Revolution, whence, with some in- 
terruptions and many changes, it has attained its 
present condition. In fact, we may with propriety 
go even beyond the Revolution to seek the roots of 
our genealogical tree in the old French wars, for the 
Cia- Atlantic campaigns of the seven years' war were 



20 BATTLE MONUMENT 

not confined to the " red men scalping eacli other by 
the great lalies of North America/' and it was in 
them that our ancestors first participated as Ameri- 
cans in the large operations of civilized armies. 
American regiinents then fought on the banks of 
the St. Lawrence and the Ohio, on the shores of 
Ontario and Lake George, on the islands of the Ca- 
ribbean and in South America. Louisburgh, Que- 
bec, Duquesne, the Moro, and Porto Bello, attest the 
value of the provincial troops, and in that school 
were educated such soldiers as Washington, Put- 
nam, Lee, Montgobiery, and Gates. These and 
men like Greene, Knox, Wayne, and Steuben, 
were the fathers of our permanent army, and under 
them our troops acquired that discipline and steadi- 
ness which enabled them to meet upon equal terms, 
and often to defeat, the tried veterans of England. 
The study of the history of the Revolution, and a 
perusal of the despatches of Washington, will con- 
vince the most skeptical of the value of the perma- 
nent army in achieving our independence and estab- 
lishing the civil edifice which we are now fighting to 
preserve. 

The war of 1812 found the army on a footing far 
from adequate to the emergency, but it was rapidly 
increased, and of the new generation of soldiers 
many proved equal to the requirements of the occa- 
sion. Lundy's Lane, Chippewa, Queenstown, Platts- 
burgh, New Orleans — all bear witness to the gallant- 
ry of the regulars. 

Then came an interval of more than thirty years 



AT WEST POINT. 21 

of external peace, marked by many changes in the 
organization and strength of the regular army, and 
broken at times by tedious and bloody Indian wars. 
Of these the most remarkable were the Black Hawk 
war, in which our troops met unflinchingly a foe as 
relentless, and far more destructive than the Indians 
— that terrible scourge, the cholera ; and the tedious 
Florida war, where for so many years, the Seminoles 
eluded in the pestilential swamps our utmost efforts, 
and in which were displayed such traits of heroism 
as that commemorated by yonder monument to 
Dade and his command, " when all fell, save three, 
without an attempt to retreat/' At last came the 
Mexican war, to replace Indian combats and the 
monotony of the frontier service, and for the first 
time in many years the mass of the regular army 
was concentrated, and took the principal part in the 
battles of that remarkable and romantic war. Palo 
Alto, Kesaca, and Fort Brown, were the achieve- 
ments of the regulars unaided, and as to the battles 
of Monterey, Buena Yista, Yera Cruz, CeiTC Gordo, 
and the final triumphs in the valley, none can truly 
say that they could have been won without the reg- 
ulars. When peace crowned our victories in the 
capital of the Montezumas, the army was at once 
dispersed over the long frontier, and engaged in har- 
assing and dangerous wars with the Indians of the 
plains. Thus thirteen long years were spent, until 
the present war broke out, and the mass of the army 
was drawn in, to be employed against a domestic 
foe. 



22 BATTLE MONUMENT 

I cannot proceed to the events of the recent past 
and the present without adverting to the gallant 
men who were so long of our number, but who have 
now gone to their last home, for no small portion of 
the glory of which we boast was reflected from such 
men as Taylor, Worth, Brady, Brooks, Totten, 
and Duncan. 

There is a sad story of Venetian history that has 
moved many a heart, and often employed the poet's 
pen and the painter's pencil. It is of an old man 
whose long life was gloriously spent in the* service of 
the state as a warrior and a statesman, and who, 
when his hair was white and his feeble limbs could 
scarce carry his bent form toward the grave, attained 
the highest honors that a Venetian citizen could 
reach. He was Doge of Venice. Convicted of trea- 
son against the state, he not only lost his life, but 
suffered beside a penalty which will endure as long 
as the name of Venice is remembered. The spot 
where his portrait should have hung in the great hall 
of the doge's palace was veiled with black, and there 
still remains the frame, with its black mass of can- 
vas — and this vacant frame is the most conspicuous 
in the long line of effigies of illustrious doges ! 

Oh ! that such a pall as that which replaces the 
portrait of Marino Faliero could conceal from his- 
tory the names of those, once our comrades, who 
are now in arms against the flag under which we 
fought side by side in years gone by. But no veil 
can cover the anguish that fills our hearts when we 
look back upon the sad memory of the past, and re- 



AT WEST POINT. 23 

call the affection and respect we entertained toward 
men against whom it is our duty to act in mortal 
combat. Would that the courage, ability, and stead- 
fastness, they displayed, had been employed in the 
defence of the " Stars and Stripes," against a for- 
eign foe, rather than in this gratuitous and unjusti- 
fiable rebellion, which could not be so long main- 
tained but for the skill and energy of those, our 
former comrades. 

But we have reason to rejoice that upon this day, 
so sacred and so eventful for us, one grand old mor- 
tal monument of the past still lifts high his head 
amongst us, and graces by his presence the consecra- 
tion of this tomb of his children. We may well be 
proud that we have been commanded by the hero 
who purchased victory with his blood near the .great 
waters of Niagara, who repeated and eclipsed the 
the iachievements of Cortez ; who, although a con- 
summate and confident commander, ever preferred, 
when duty and honor would permit, the olive branch 
of peace to the blood-stained laurels of war, and 
who stands, at the close of a long, glorious, and 
eventful life, a living column of granite against 
which have beaten in vain alike the blandishments, 
and the storms of treason. His .name will ever be 
one of our proudest boasts and most moving inspi- 
rations. In long-distant ages, when this incipient 
monument has become venerable, moss-clad, and 
perhaps ruinous, when the names inscribed upon it 
shall seem to those who pause to read them, indis- 
tinct mementoes of an almost mythical past, the 



24 BATTLE MONUMENT 

name of Winfield Scott will still be clear cut 
upon the memory of tliem all, like the still fresh 
carving upon the monuments of long-forgotten 
Pharaohs. 

But it is time to approach the present. 

In the war which now shakes the land to its foun- 
datioUj the regular army has borne a most honorable 
part. Too few in numbers to act by themselves, 
regular regiments have participated in every great 
battle in the East, and in most of those west of the 
Alleghanies. Their terrible losses and diminished 
numbers prove that they have been in the thickest 
of the fights, and the testimony of their comrades 
and commanders show with what undaunted heroism 
they have upheld their ancient renown. Their vig- 
orous charges have often won the day, and in defeat 
they have more than once saved the army from de- 
struction or terrible losses by the obstinacy with 
which they resisted overpowering numbers. They 
can refer with pride to the part they played ujjon 
the glorious fields of Mexico, and exult at the recol- 
lection of what they did at Manassas, Gaines' Mill, 
Malvern, Antietam, Shiloh, Stone Kiver, Gettys-. 
burgh, and the great battles just fought from the 
Rapidan to the Chickahominy. They can also point 
to the of&cers who have risen among them and 
achieved gjeat deeds for their country in this war ; — 
to the living warriors whose names are on the na- 
tion's tongue and heart, too numerous to be re- 
peated here, yet not one of whom I' could willingly 
omit. 



AT WEST POINT. 25 

But perhaps the proudest episode in the history 
of the regular army is that touching instance of 
fidelity on the part of the non-commissioned officers 
and privates, who, treacherously made prisoners in 
Texas, resisted every temptation to violate their 
oath and desert their flag. Offered commissions in 
the rebel service, money and land freely tendered 
them, they all scorned the inducements held out to 
them, submitted to every hardship^ and when at last 
exchanged, avenged themselves on the field of bat- 
tle for the unavailing insult offered their integrity. 
History affords no brighter example of honor than 
that of these brave men, tempted, as I blush to say 
they were, by some of their former officers, who, 
having themselves proved i"alse to their flag, endeav- 
ored to seduce the men who had often followed 
them in combat, and who had naturally regarded 
them with respect and love. 

Such is the regular army — such its history and 
antecedents — such its officers and men. It needs no 
herald to trumpet forth its praises ; it can proudly 
appeal to the numerous fields, from the tropics to 
the frozen banks of the St. Lawrence, from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific, fertilized by the blood and 
whitened by the bones of its members. But I will 
not pause to eulogize it. Let its deeds speak for it ; 
they are more eloquent than tongue of mine. 

Why are we here to-day ? 

This is not the funeral of one brave warrior, nor 
even of the harvest of death on a single battle-field, 
but these are the obsequies of the best and bravest 

2 



26 BATTLE MONUMENT 

of the children of the land, who have fallen in ac- 
tions almost numberless, many of them among the 
most sanguinary and desperate of which history 
bears record. The men, whose names and deeds we 
now seek to perpetuate, rendering them the highest 
honor in our power, have fallen wherever armed re- 
bellion showed its front — in far distant New Mexico, 
in the broad valley of the Mississippi, on the bloody 
hunting-grounds of Kentucky, in the mountains of 
Tennessee, amid the swamps of Carolina, on the 
fertile fields of Maryland, and in the blood-stained 
thickets of Virginia. They were of all the grades 
— from the general officer to the private ; of all 
ages — from the grayhaired veteran of fifty years' 
service, to the beardless .youth ; of all degrees of 
cultivation — from the man of science to the uned- 
ucated boy. It is not necessary, nor is it possible, 
to repeat the mournful yet illustrious roll of dead 
heroes whom we have met to honor. Nor shall I 
attempt to name all of those who most merit praise 
— simply a few who will exemplify the classes to 
which they belong. 

Among the last slain, but among the fijst in hon- 
or and reputation, was that hero of twenty battles 
— John Sedgwick — gentle and kind as a woman, 
brave as a brave man can be, honest, sincere, and 
able — he was a model that all may strive to imitate, 
but whom few can equal. In the terrible battles 
which just preceded his death, he had occasion to 
display the highest qualities of a commander and a 
soldier ; yet after escaping the stroke of death when 



AT WEST POINT. 27 

men fell around him by thousands, he at last met 
his fate at a moment of comparative quiet, by the 
ball of a single rifleman. He died as a soldier 
would choose to die — with truth in his heart, and a 
sweet, tranquil smile upon his face. Alas ! our 
great nation possesses few such sons like true John 
Sedgwick. 

Like him fell, too, at the very head of their corps, 
the white-haired Mansfield, after a long career of 
usefulness, illustrated by his skill and cool courage 
at Fort Brown, Monterey and Buena Vista — John 
F. Keynolds and Keno, both in the full vigor of 
manhood and intellect — men who have proved their 
ability and chivalry on many a field in Mexico, and 
in this civil war^ gallant gentlemen of whom their 
country had much to hope, had it pleased God to 
spare their lives. Lyon fell in the prime of life, 
leading his little army against superior numbers, his 
brief career affording a brilliant example of patriot- 
ism and ability. The impetuous Kearney, and 
such brave generals as Eichardson, Williams, 
Terrill, Stevens, Weed, Strong, Saunders, 
and Hayes, lost their lives while in the midst of 
a career of usefulness. Young Bayard, so like the 
most renowned of his name, that " knight above fear 
and above reproach," was cut off too early for his 
country, and that excellent staff- officer Colonel 
Garesche fell while gallantly doing his duty. 

No regiments can spare such gallant, devoted and 
able commanders as Kossell, Davis, Gove, Sim- 
mons, Bailey, Putnam and Kingsbury — all of 



28 BATTLE MONUMENT 

whom fell in tlie thickest of the combat — some of 
them veterans, and others young in service, all good 
men and well-beloved. 

Our batteries have partially paid their terrible 
debt to fate in the loss of such commanders as Gre- 
BLE, the first to fall in this war, Benson, Hazzard, 
Smead, De Hart, Hazlitt, and those gallant boys, 
KiRBY, Woodruff, Dimmick, and Gushing ; while 
the engineers lament the promising and gallant 
Wagner and Cross. 

Beneath remote battlefields rest the corpses of the 
heroic McKea, Keed, Bascom, Stone, Sweet, and 
many other comj)any ofiicers. 

Besides these were hosts of veteran sergeants, cor- 
porals and privates, who had fought under Scott in 
Mexico, or contended in many combats with the 
savages of the far West and Florida, and, mingled 
with them, young soldiers who, courageous, steady, 
and true, met death unflinchingly, without the hope* 
of personal glory. These men, in their more hum- 
ble sphere, served their country with as much faith 
and honor as the most illustrious generals, and all 
of them with perfect singleness of heart. Although 
their names may not live in history, their actions, 
loyalty, and courage, will live. Their memories will 
long be preserved in their regiments, for there were 
many of them who merited as proud a distinction 
as that accorded to the " first grenadier of France,'' 
or to that other Kussian soldier who gave his life for 
his comrades. 

But there is another class of men who have gone 



AT WEST POINT 29 

from us since this war commenced, wliose fate it was 
not to die in battle, but who are none the less en- 
titled to be mentioned here. There was Sumnek, a 
brave, honest, chivalrous veteran, of more than half 
a century's service, who had confronted death un- 
flinchingly on scores of battlefields, had shown his 
gray head serene and cheerful, where death most 
revelled, who more than once told me that he be- 
lieved and hoped that his long career would end 
amid the din of battle — he died at home from the 
effects of the hardships of his campaigns. 

That most excellent soldier, the elegant C. F. 
Smith, whom many of us remember to have seen so 
often on this plain, with his superb bearing, escaped 
the bullet to fall a victim to the disease which has 
deprived the army of so many of its best soldiers. 

John Buford, cool and intrepid ; Mitchell, 
eminent in science ; Plummer, Palmer, and many 
other officers and men, lost their lives by sickness 
contracted in the field. 

But I cannot close this long list of glorious mar- 
tyi's without paying a sacred debt of official duty and 
personal friendship. There was one dead soldier 
who possessed peculiar claims upon my love and 
gratitude. He was an ardent patriot, an unselfish 
man, a true soldier, the beau ideal of a staff officer — 
he was my aide-de-camp. Colonel Colburn. 

There is a lesson to be drawn from the death and 
services of these glorious men which we should read 
for the present and future benefit of the nation. 
War in these modern days is a science, and it should 

2* 



30 BATTLE MONUMENT 

now be clear to the most prejudiced that for the or- 
ganization and command of armies, and the high 
combinations of strategy, perfect familiarity with 
the theoretical science of war is requisite. To count 
upon success when the plans or execution of cam- 
paigns are intrusted to men who have no knowledge 
of war, is as idle as to expect the legal wisdom of a 
Story or a Kent from a skilful physician. 

But what is the honorable and holy cause for 
which these men laid down their lives, and for which 
the nation still demands the sacrifice of the precious 
blood of so many of her children ? 

Soon after the close of the Kevolutionary war, it 
was found that the confederacy, which had grown 
up during that memorable contest, was fast falling 
to pieces from its own weight. The central power 
was too weak ; it could only recommend to the dif- 
ferent states such measures as seemed best ; and it 
possessed no real power to legislate, because it lacked 
the executive force to compel obedience to its laws. 
The national credit and self-respect had disappeared, 
and it was feared by the friends of human liberty 
throughout the world that ours was but another, add- 
ed to the long list of fruitless attempts at self-gov- 
ernment. The nation was evidently upon the brink 
of ruin and dissolution, when, some eighty years 
ago, many of the wisest and most patriotic of the 
land met to seek a remedy for the great evils which 
threatened to destroy the great work of the Eevolu- 
tion. Their sessions were long, and often stoimy ; 
for a time the most sanguine doubted the possibility 



AT WEST POINT. 81 

of a successful termination to their labors. But, 
from amidst the conflict of sectional interests, of 
party prejudices, and of personal selfishness, the 
spirit of wisdom and conciliation at length evoked 
the Constitution, under which we have lived so 
long. 

It was not formed in a day, hut was the result of 
patient labor, of lofty wisdom, and of the purest 
patriotism. It was at last adopted by the people of 
all the states — although by some reluctantly — not 
as being exactly what all desired, but as being the 
best possible under the circumstances. It was ac- 
cepted as giving us a form of government under 
which the nation might live happily and prosper, so 
long as the people should continue to be influenced 
by the same sentiments which actuated those who 
formed it, and which would not be liable to destruc- 
tion from internal causes, so long as the people pre- 
served the recollection of the miseries and calamities 
which led to its adoption. 

Under this beneficent Constitution the progress of 
the nation was unexampled in history. The rights 
and liberties of its citizens were secure at home and 
abroad ; vast territories were rescued from the con- 
trol of the savage and the wild beast, and added to the 
domain of civilization and the Union. The arts, the 
sciences, and commerce, grew apace ; our flag floated 
upon every sea, and we took our place among the 
great nations of the earth. 

But under the smooth surface of prosperity upon 
which we glided swiftly, with all sails set before the 



32 BATTLE MONUMENT 

summer breeze, dangerous reefs were hidden which 
now and then caused ripples upon the surface, and 
made anxious the more cautious pilots. Elated by 
success, the ship swept on, the crew not heeding the 
warnings they received, forgetful of the dangers 
they escaped in the beginning of the voyage, and 
blind to the hideous maelstrom which gaped to 
receive and destroy them. The same elements of 
discordant sectional prejudices, interests, and insti- 
tutions, which had rendered the formation of the 
Constitution so difficult, threatened more than once 
to destroy it. But for a long time the nation was so 
fortunate as to possess a series of political leaders 
who, to the highest abilities, united the same spirit 
of conciliation which animated the founders of 
the Kepublic, and thus for many years the threat- 
ened evils were averted. Time and long-continued 
good fortune obliterated the recollection of the 
calamities and wretchedness of the years preceding 
the adoption of the Constitution. Men forgot that 
conciliation, common interest, and mutual charity, 
had been the foundation and must be the support of 
our government-^ — as is indeed the case with all gov- 
ernments and all the relations of life. At length 
men appeared with whom sectional and personal pre- 
judices and interests outweighed all considerations 
for the general good. Extremists of one section fur- 
nished the occasion, eagerly seized as a pretext by 
equally extreme men in the other, for abandoning 
the pacific remedies and protection afforded by the 
Constitution, and seeking redress for possible future 
evils in war and the destruction of the Union. 



AT WEST POINT. 33 

Stripped of all sophistry and side issues, the di- 
rect cause of the war, as it presented itself to the 
honest and patriotic citizens of the North, was sim 
ply this : Certain states, or rather, a portion of the 
inhabitants of certain states, feared or professed to 
fear, that injury would result to their rights and 
property from the elevation of a particular party to 
power. Although the Constitution and the actual 
condition of the government provided them with a 
peaceable and sure protection against the apprehend- 
ed evil, they preferred to seek security in the de- 
struction of the government, which could protect 
them, and in the use of force against the national 
troops holding a national fortress. 

To efface the insult offered our flag ; to save our- 
selves from the fate of the divided republics of Italy 
and South America, to preserve our government from 
destruction, to enforce its just power and laws, to 
maintain our very existence as a nation — these were 
the causes that compelled us to draw the sword. 

Eebellion against a government like ours, which 
contains the means of self-adjustment, and a pacific 
remedy for evils, should never be confounded with a 
revolution against despotic power, which refuses re- 
dress of wrongs. Such a rebellion cannot be justi- 
fied upon ethical grounds, and the only alternative 
for our choice is its suppression, or the destruction 
of our nationality. At such a time as this, and in 
such a struggle, political partisanship should be 
merged in a true and brave patriotism, which thinks 
only of the good of the whole country. 

It was in this cause and with these motives, that 



34 BATTLE MONUMENT 

SO many of our comrades gave their lives, and to this 
we are all personally pledged in all honor and fideli- 
ty. Shall such a devotion as that of our dead com- 
rades, he of no avail ? Shall it he said in after-ages, 
that we lacked the vigor to complete the work thus 
begun ? that^ after all these noble lives freely 
given, we hesitated, and failed to keep straight on 
until our land was saved ? Forbid it, Heaven, and 
give us firmer, truer hearts than that ! 

Oh, spirits of the valiant dead, souls of our slain 
heroes, lend us your own indomitable will, and if it 
be permitted you to commune with those still chained 
by the trammels of mortality, hover around us in 
the midst of danger and tribulation, cheer the firm, 
strengthen the weak, that none may doubt the sal- 
vation of the republic and the triumph of our grand 
old flag ! 

In the midst of the storms which toss our ship of 
state, there is one great beacon light, to which we 
can ever turn with confidence and hope. It cannot 
be that this great nation has played its part in his- 
tory ; it cannot be that our sun, which arose with 
such bright promises for the future, has already set 
for ever. It must be the intention of the overruling 
Deity that this land, so long the asylum of the op- 
pressed, the refuge of civil and religious liberty, shall 
again stand forth in bright relief, united, purified, 
and chastened by our trials, as an example and en- 
couragement for those who desire the j)rogress of the 
human race. It is not given to our weak intellects 
to understand the steps of Providence as they occur ; 



AT WEST POINT. 35 

we comprehend them only as we look back upon 
them in the far distant past. 

So is it now. 

We cannot unravel the seemingly tangled skein 
of the purposes of the Creator — they are too high 
and far reaching for our Kmited minds. But all 
history and His own revealed Word teach us that 
His ways, although inscrutable, are ever righteous. 
Let us then honestly and manfully play our part, 
seek to understand and perform our whole duty, and 
trust unwaveringly in the beneficence of the God who 
led our ancestors across the sea, and sustained them 
afterward, amid dangers more appalling even than 
those encountered by His own chosen people in their 
great exodus. He did not bring us here in vain, nor 
has he supported us thus far for naught. If we do 
our duty and trust in Him, He will not desert us in 
our need. 

Firm in our faith that God will save our country, 
we now dedicate this site to the memory of brave 
men, to loyalty, patriotism, and honor. 



BENEDICTION. 



May the God of our fathers and our God succeed 
with his divine benediction the solemn and interest- 
ing services of this occasion. May He conduct, by 
His gracious providence, the work commenced to day 
to successful completion. May the monument here 
to be raised in honor of the illustrious dead, inspire 
with all the ardor of a sound Christian patriotism 
the soldiers of our common country, here trained for 
its defence ; may it prove to them a constant 
remembrancer of their mortality, and keep alive 
upon the altar of their hearts the flame of devotion 
to God, to country, to the Union, the Constitution, 
and the immutable principles of truth and justice ; 
and may the blessing of the triune God, the Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen. 

3 



TO THE PUBLIC. 



The Executive Committee, in behalf of the army, 
feel constrained to signify an expression of their ap- 
preciation of the interest manifested by the general 
public in favor of the Battle Monument. 

Exclusiveness was at no time intended, and con- 
tributions have been gratefully received from all 
sources, but, from numerous inquiries, both personal 
and by letter, addressed to the committee, by those 
not connected with the regular army, it is felt 
that some misapprehension may have existed upon 
this point. 

It is therefore deemed proper to make public the 
announcement that contributions are cheerfully re- 
ceived from all who feel an interest in this project. 

Communications addressed to Prof A. E.Church, 
West Point, N. Y., will receive prompt acknowl- 
edgment. 



GEN. McOLELLAN'S 

REPORT AND CAMPAIGNS. 

THE ONLY COMPLETE AND ACCURATE EDITION. 



By Special Arrangement with Gen. McClellan, 

SHELOOIV &> Co., 

Publishers, 

335 Broadway, N. Y 
Have published a 

FULL AND OOMPLETE EDITION OF HIS REPORT. 
While going through the press, this edition was corrected 
Dy Gen'l McClellan. It has none of the remarkable errors 
which have crept into the Government edition and all the 
other editions that have followed the Government edition. 
It also has the 
"CAMPAIGN IN VTESTERN VIRGINIA," 
prepared by Gen. McClellan expressly for this edition. 
Illustrated with Maps, &c. One volume, 8vo. Price, $2.50. 



12mo edition of the same, bound in cloth, with all the Maps, 
Price, $1.50. Bound in boards, $1.25. 

Prom the Journal of Commerce. 

" Wc regret that the Congressional edition, the Rebellion Record edition, 
and other cheap editions of the report are incomplete and inaccurate, omit- 
ting entirely some portious which present the most interesting and important 
view of the relations of General McCiellau to the Cabinet, the army and the 
country. The edition published by Sheldon & Company, under General 
McClellan's authority, is accurate," 

From the Post, Chicago. 

"Sheldon & Co. have issued their edition of General McClellan's report on 
the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, to which is 
added an account of the Campaign in West Virginia, from the General's own 
pen. This edition is the only one which gives the main report in full ; im- 
portant parts of it, relating to very critical periods in the history of the Army 
of the Potomac, being omitted from the Congressional edition, and, by con- 
sequence, from all other editions, without exception, which are mere reprints 
of that. The edition publislied by Sheldon & Co., is complete and authentic, 
and is the only complete and authentic edition." 
Prom the Boston Post. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 785 172 6 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 785 172 6 # 



